Paid family and medical leave compliance is set to become even more complex over the next three years, and employers that stay ahead of legal requirements may need to make adjustments, speakers said Wednesday during a Disability Management Employer Coalition webinar.

Statutory states require employers to have paid leave programs in place, and they represent a growing category of jurisdictions, according to the event’s hosts, Tom Foschino, vice president of accident and health at Arch Insurance Group, and Julie Lung, account manager at Arch Insurance Group. Foschino and Lung counted 14 states that will require some form of paid leave in 2024, with Colorado joining 13 states that currently mandate leave.

By the end of 2026, 18 states will have joined the trend, including Delaware, Maine, Maryland and Minnesota.

“You can see this is really starting to catch on more and more here,” Foschino said. “There are a lot of things that you as an employer need to be looking out for when you have employees across these different states.”

In states without paid leave statutes, employers still have options if they want to offer paid leave, Lung said. For example, short-term disability programs offered via an insurance carrier or a self-funded model can provide salary continuance in the event of an employee’s serious health condition, but such programs typically lack the family leave components present in recently adopted state paid leave laws, she noted.

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